From the Isle of Music, August 6-12:
Charanga, Charanga and Changüi……
This week is dedicated to Charanga and Changüi. Our guest is Abilio Betancourt, Director of Orquesta Sublime, a charanga with a lot of swing that is noticed less than it should be outside of Cuba. You’ll hear what we mean with some of their recordings. Also: Orquesta Estrellas Cubanas, another excellent charanga, and some seldom-heard Orquesta Reve from the 1960s. Be prepared to dance.
Four opportunities to listen on shortwave:
1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in all directions with 100Kw, Sunday 1500-1600 UTC on SpaceLine, 9400 KHz, from Kostinbrod, Bulgaria (1800-1900 MSK)
2. For the Americas and parts of Europe, Tuesday 0000-0100 UTC on WBCQ, 7490 KHz from Monticello, ME, USA (Monday 8-9PM EDT in the US)
3 & 4. For Europe and sometimes beyond, Tuesday 1900-2000 UTC and Saturday 1200-1300 UTC on Channel 292, 6070 KHz from Rohrbach, Germany.
Episode 24 of Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot, a musical variety program that features a little bit of everything from around the planet, will air on WBCQ the Planet, 7490 KHz, Thursday, August 10 from 2300-2330 UTC (7:00pm-7:30pm EDT in the Americas). This week includes a wonderful new Tango recording, some progressive Folk music from Poland and what might be China’s answer to Lady Gaga (not sure whether that was the question though) among other things.